Non-physician foot care. Any suggestions?

i have a small pair of " electronic technician " wire nips for mine and mothers foot care. i s'pose you could find them at radio shack. theyre very sharp nosed and will reak havoc on an ingrown toenail as well as sheer off a callous . finding ingrown nails is as simple as looking at all the toes. if the toe is pinkish at either side of the nail, there is tension present and the nail edge needs nipped off. most storebought foot care tool are misengineered chinese trash nowdays and just dont work well..

I am a nutritionist and also worked for years as a para-medical esthetician with dermatologists and plastic surgeons.

There are two separate issues here. First, porokeratoses can be associated with squamous cell carcinoma and should always be seen by a doctor. Podiatrists are limited to treatment of the foot and ankle. Does your mom have these lesions anywhere else as they don't tend to show up just in a podiatric area? If it were me, I'd have them looked at by a plastic surgeon rather than have them dug at on a semi-regular basis. A dermatologist would be my second choice, but not a podiatrist for any long term continuing treatment.

As far as calluses go, there are really only two ways to keep them down: shaving them or sanding them. Other than a podiatrist, the only people you're going to get foot services from are licensed manicurist who do pedicures. In days past, a manicurist could shave a callus with an instrument called a Credo tool. With proper training, it is virtually impossible to cut the good skin. Years of inadequate training however led to accidents and mistakes and the skin WAS cut so little by little the state Boards of Cosmetology across the country have systematically made it illegal for manicurists to use the Credo tool. Before it reached that point, you had the believers and the non-believers in the use of Credo, and the non-believers began to perpetuate a belief that shaving calluses makes them proliferate (grow) faster. In my opinion, the pressure needed to sand off the calluses stimulate even more cellular growth of the horny tissue so my preference is shaving, in case you haven't picked up on my bias by now. By law, therefore, you can only get this service from a podiatrist who CAN shave you're calluses, because manicurists aren't allowed. Some will do it illegally under the table. You DO NOT want this, however, as if something damaging should occur, their malpractice insurance will not cover them.

The sad thing is that a podiatrist doesn't generally spend as much time with you as a manicurist would so you may not get the same quality of removal. You may have to "shop around" to find the right podiatrist to deal with your particular callus situation.

A podiatrist is the best option. Seriously.